As we reported in a prior post, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann apparently doesn’t find the aforementioned scenario as unlikely as we do — and she’s apparently not alone.

Despite several high-ranking Republicans (who still actually have jobs in government) — like Senator John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner — calling Bachmann out for her insulting witch-hunt, former House speaker/presidential candidate Newt Gingrich seems to think modern-day McCarthyism isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Gingrich appeared with Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen on POLITICO Live’s Driving the Day this morning where he actually defended Bachmann’s probe of Abedin’s ties (or lack thereof) to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“There weren’t allegations, there was a question,” Gingrich said this morning, adding that “the question ought to be asked across the board.”

Only problem is, the “questions” aren’t being asked “across the board” — they’re being asked (by a Republican) about an aide of a prominent Democrat who just so happens to be Muslim.

If you missed it, here’s a rundown from our prior post of Bachmann’s probe:

In June, Bachmann sought the help of inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice Departments, asking them to investigate “policies and activities that appear to be the result of influence operations conducted by individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Bachmann later noted on a radio show that “It appears that there has been deep penetration in the halls of our United States government by the Muslim Brotherhood.”

When asked by fellow Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison to provide “a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters,” Bachmann provided precisely jack shit.

As evidence, she pointed to Abedin’s late father, Professor Syed Z. Abedin, and a 2002 Brigham Young University Law Review article about his work. Bachmann points to a passage saying Abedin founded an organization that received the “quiet but active support” of the the former director of the Muslim World League, an international NGO that was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe in the 1970s through 1990s. So, to connect Abedin to the Muslim Brotherhood, you have to go through her dead father, to the organization he founded, to a man who allegedly supported it, to the organization that man used to lead, to Europe in the 1970s and 1990s, and finally to the Brotherhood.

As noted above, high-ranking Republicans already have come out in support of Abedin, and against Bachmann’s whacky probe — Gingrich, apparently, didn’t get the memo.